Call of Duty Black Ops 7 NEXT: 18 Maps, Omnimovement and TPM 2.0 Anti-Cheat

Call of Duty: NEXT ripped the curtain back on Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 with a packed showcase that confirmed maps, modes, movement changes, Zombies content, Warzone integration, and the beta schedule — and it did so while doubling down on hardware-level anti-cheat enforcement that will reshape who can play on day one.

Background / Overview​

Activision and Treyarch used Call of Duty: NEXT to present a wide-ranging first look at Black Ops 7’s multiplayer, Zombies, and Warzone plans ahead of the game’s November 14, 2025 launch. The publisher also opened a short beta window in October — Early Access beginning October 2 and an Open Beta running October 5–8 — that gives players a hands-on preview of core systems and the new movement and progression mechanics.
This preview matters for two reasons. First, Black Ops 7 is shipping with a larger-than-usual multiplayer slate (18 launch maps, split between classic 6v6 and new 20v20 Skirmish arenas). Second, the title introduces system-level changes — especially anti-cheat requirements tied to TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot — that will affect the PC ecosystem long after launch. Those two themes (scale and enforcement) set the tone for what Treyarch and Activision are promising and what the community will debate.

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Multiplayer: maps, modes, and movement​

18 maps at launch — six in the beta​

Black Ops 7 will launch with 18 multiplayer maps: 16 Core 6v6 maps for traditional match types and 2 Skirmish 20v20 maps for large-scale engagements. The beta supplies a curated handful of those maps early: The Forge, Cortex, Exposure, Imprint, Blackheart, and Toshin will rotate into the beta playlist across the Early Access and Open Beta windows. These details were confirmed by Activision’s Call of Duty blog and by independent press previews.

• Key launch map numbers:
• 18 total maps at launch
• 16 Core (6v6)
• 2 Skirmish (20v20)
• Beta map rollout:
• Early Access: The Forge, Cortex, Exposure, Imprint
• Open Beta additions: Blackheart, Toshin.

Modes in the beta​

Players in the beta will be able to sample multiple modes, including the new Overload mode alongside staples like Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, and Search and Destroy. Overload introduces an objective-carry element where teams fight to transport a device into enemy control zones, changing how teams rotate and contest space. The early beta playlist rollout is staggered so creators and organizers can highlight specific modes.

Omnimovement: iteration, not a rewrite​

Black Ops 7 continues to evolve the Omnimovement architecture introduced in Black Ops 6. Expect new wall-jump mechanics, increased base movement speed, and refined core movement that together encourage faster engagements and more aggressive flanking. At the same time, tactical sprint (tac-sprint) has been removed from the default player kit; players who prioritize sprinting must now sacrifice a perk slot to gain further mobility. These are intentional design trade-offs intended to balance speed with meaningful loadout decisions.

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Progression, Overclocking, and the return of Prestige​

Overclocking: equipment that levels up​

A notable systems addition is the Overclocking system: equipment (lethals, tacticals, field upgrades, and scorestreaks) accrues experience with use and can be “overclocked” to unlock powerful upgrades. This converts repeated utility into meta-shaping upgrades: for example, the D.A.W.G. scorestreak can be improved for longer battery life or set to a sentry-like auto-defensive configuration. Overclocking formally extends progression beyond weapons and operators and forces teams and players to plan both usage and counters around these evolving tools.

Classic prestige and cross-progression​

Treyarch is reintroducing classic Prestige, now paired with a cross-progression system spanning multiplayer, co-op campaign, and Zombies (including Dead Ops Arcade 4). Each mode has its own weapon mastery camo track — the team announced 16 new mastery camos (the most ever offered across modes) — plus calling-card challenges and weekly rotating objectives. The system aims to reward mode-specific engagement while preserving a single, unified account progression.

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Zombies: Ashes of the Damned, new monsters, and Ol' Tessie​

Ashes of the Damned — round-based narrative​

Treyarch revealed Ashes of the Damned as the round-based Zombies chapter at NEXT. The story-driven map features both a new four-person cast (Maya, Weaver, Carver, and Grey) and playable iterations of the original OG crew (Richtofen, Nikolai, Takeo, and Dempsey), setting up multiversal encounters with a dark Aether narrative. The Zombies reveal emphasized a mix of classic round-based objectives, a main-questline, and special completion awards.

New modes inside Zombies​

Zombies at launch will include:

• Standard round-based maps with an overarching main quest.
• Survival, a confined, high-intensity holdout mode (Vandorn Farm will be playable in the beta’s Survival variant).
• Cursed, a hardcore mode evoking classic Zombies rules: players start with just a pistol, no loadouts, no minimap, and must grind classical point economy for progress.
  Directed Mode (a more guided experience) returns but is locked until Season 1 for the Ashes of the Damned story.

New enemies, wonder items, and Ol' Tessie​

The Zombies reveal introduced new threats — ravagers and a zombie bear — to disrupt the usual round flow, and a novel concept: a Wonder Vehicle, Ol' Tessie, a repairable/upgradeable farm truck that functions as a mobile squadmate. Treyarch also teased the Necrofluid Gauntlet wonder weapon and the return of T.E.D.D. as a non-player ally. These elements are designed to combine mobility, base defense, and new resource management into the Zombies loop. Some wonder-weapon gameplay was withheld from the stream, so details remain limited until hands-on sessions.

Dead Ops Arcade 4​

Dead Ops Arcade returns in an expanded form — DOA4 will include ammo mods, field upgrades, and GobbleGums for the first time, with both top-down and first-person perspectives available. The mode promises 80 levels and over 20 arenas in a co-op retro-meets-modern horde structure that serves as a palate-cleanser from the main Zombies quest.

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Warzone: Haven’s Hollow and integration changes​

Haven’s Hollow — a new Resurgence setting​

Warzone Resurgence will receive a new map called Haven’s Hollow, drawing inspiration from Black Ops 6’s Liberty Falls Zombies map and transplanting the fight into an Appalachian-themed environment with 9 named POIs and a central Mansion locus. The map is designed for Resurgence’s rapid comeback gameplay and threads Zombies-era set pieces into Warzone’s loop.

Weapon and loot changes when Black Ops 7 integrates​

When Black Ops 7 weapons integrate with Warzone:

• Weapons will be limited to five attachments in Warzone’s sandbox.
• Wildcards will be removed from Warzone’s loadout rules; two primary weapons will be available by default again (no Overkill wildcard tradeoff).
• Ground loot will be rebalanced toward more linear rarity tiers; attachments like extended mags may appear more frequently on lower-rarity weapons to normalize mid-match pickups.
• Baseline sprint speed will be increased; tac-sprint will be removed from the default kit and instead tied to perk/perk-slot tradeoffs.
• New equipment (needle drone lethal, phantom signal, pinpoint grenade tacticals) will replace some removed items; seasonal shifts to ground loot distribution will also be expected.

Balancing Warzone with a Black Ops movement and equipment set presents a non-trivial tuning task for Raven Software. The stated goal is to unify systems across modes while retaining Warzone’s distinct loop, but the move will generate contentious choices about mobility, looting RNG, and attachment economy.

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Anti-cheat and PC requirements: Secure Boot + TPM 2.0​

A major backend change: Activision is requiring TPM 2.0 and UEFI Secure Boot for Black Ops 7’s beta and launch as part of a tightened RICOCHET anti-cheat posture. This raises legitimate compatibility and privacy questions for the PC community because enforcement is anchored to firmware-level primitives that can block older or custom systems outright.
Two independent, confirmed points:

• Multiple outlets and Activision’s documentation show that Black Ops 7’s beta enforces Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 as prerequisites.
• Community and technical writeups explain the practical impact: enabling Secure Boot often implies converting MBR disks to GPT and verifying BitLocker and firmware settings; unmanaged changes can trigger BitLocker recovery prompts and potential data loss if recovery keys are missing. The industry’s shared checklist for affected players includes backing up, checking msinfo32 and tpm.msc, and validating GPT/UEFI conversion procedures.

Flag: while publishers assert that TPM-backed attestation does not grant file-level access, the telemetry principle raises privacy discussion points. Any claim that anti-cheat inspects personal files directly should be treated skeptically unless the publisher documents such behavior.

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What this means for players and admins — practical steps​

If you plan to play the beta or launch Black Ops 7 on PC, follow these pragmatic steps to reduce friction:

• Backup important files and ensure you have your BitLocker recovery key saved elsewhere (cloud or USB).
• Run msinfo32 (System Information) and tpm.msc to confirm UEFI/Bios Mode = UEFI, Secure Boot = On, and TPM Specification = 2.0.
• If your system uses MBR, validate and convert to GPT using mbr2gpt.exe after suspending BitLocker. Keep a full image backup before converting.
• Update your motherboard / laptop firmware (UEFI/BIOS) to the latest stable release and enable Intel PTT or AMD fTPM if present.
• If you use Linux dual-boot or non-standard kernels, research Secure Boot enrollment or plan to test on a separate Windows-only drive.

Following these steps lowers the chance of a launch-day block, but it does require a modest amount of technical work for users running older hardware or unusual configurations.

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Strengths and design wins​

• Scale and variety: An 18-map launch with 20v20 Skirmish zones signals Treyarch’s intent to offer both tight 6v6 combat and larger, vehicle-enabled skirmishes, increasing the game’s appeal across player types.
• Meaningful progression: Overclocking equipment and mode-specific mastery camos encourage diversified play and reward repeated use of utilities rather than only guns and operators. This can deepen long-term engagement.
• Zombies ambition: The combination of a narrative round-based chapter, survival and cursed modes, a new wonder vehicle, and an expanded Dead Ops Arcade provide diverse Zombies experiences for both casual and hardcore fans.
• Integration clarity: Activision and Treyarch are explicit about how integration with Warzone will behave (attachment caps, loot rarities, movement changes), which helps set community expectations early.

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Risks, friction points, and open questions​

• Anti-cheat exclusion: Requiring TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot raises a fairness issue: owners of older or highly customized rigs, some dual-boot setups, and certain handheld PC devices may be blocked from playing without technical changes. That creates a short-term player-exclusion problem that could morph into brand friction if not handled with clear support flow and exemptions.
• Server and entitlement strain: Beta windows and simultaneous Game Pass integration historically produce entitlement, matchmaking, and download bottlenecks. Early reports of “You don’t have access” errors during Access rollouts suggest activation systems must be resilient to avoid souring first impressions.
• Warzone balance complexity: Restoring two primaries and changing attachment availability drastically shifts mid-match loadout dynamics. Ensuring parity between Black Ops 7 multiplayer and Warzone — without ruining either meta — will require multiple live adjustments. Early-season fragility is likely.
• Opaque telemetry concerns: While publishers emphasize that TPM attestation is about measured boot and not file access, the lack of widely adopted standards for attestation telemetry governance leaves room for public concern. Activision’s transparency and third-party audits would materially improve trust.

Flag: some in-show teases (for example, certain deep weapon statistics or the full functionality of the Necrofluid Gauntlet) were withheld from the live reveal; those details remain unverified until hands-on testing or official patch notes appear. Treat streamer impressions and early hands-on anecdotes as provisional.

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Final analysis: where Black Ops 7 sits in the modern Call of Duty era​

Black Ops 7’s showing at Call of Duty: NEXT is a clear, ambitious pivot: Treyarch is expanding content breadth (maps, Skirmish, Zombies and DOA4), refining movement for high-paced play, and layering systems (Overclocking, expanded camos) that reward time-in-mode. There’s a deliberate attempt to reconcile legacy desires (classic Prestige, nostalgic map returns) with modern, long-tail live-service expectations (cross-progression, seasonal changes to Warzone).
At the same time, the hardline anti-cheat posture and the technical prerequisites it demands create a structural tension: improved integrity at the platform level often means greater friction for legitimate players. Activision is betting that the anti-cheat gains and cleaner competitive environment justify the short-term exclusion costs; the community response and the company’s support execution in October and November will determine whether that bet pays off.
For now, the takeaway is straightforward: Black Ops 7 promises a feature-rich launch with notable innovations and some bold platform-level choices. Early-access players and admins should prepare systems for Secure Boot and TPM verification, while fans should expect the first few seasons to include substantial balancing and UX iterations as Treyarch and Raven refine cross-mode parity.

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Conclusion​

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 opens a new chapter for Treyarch that blends nostalgia with contemporary multiplayer design and aggressive anti-cheat enforcement. The COD NEXT showcase supplied concrete details — 18 launch maps, new Omnimovement features, Overclocking, a narrative Zombies chapter with new beasts and vehicles, DOA4’s return, and Warzone integration changes — while also making clear that the path to play will now include firmware-level checks for many PC users.
Players should be ready to test the beta windows, review system requirements carefully, and expect a high-touch post-launch patch cadence. The next few weeks will be critical: server stability, entitlement handling, and the early tune of Warzone’s integrated systems will shape first impressions that often harden into long-term sentiment. If Treyarch and Activision navigate those operational risks cleanly, Black Ops 7 could deliver one of the more varied and technically ambitious Call of Duty launches in recent memory; if not, those same ambitions will become the focal points of community pushback.

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Source: Windows Central LIVE from Call of Duty NEXT: Activision shows off Black Ops 7